Former national skipper Gooch believes the selectors made the right call by handing both Test and one-day duties to the star batsman.

“I think it’s a good idea unifying two formats of the game under one leader, because the continuity will be there,” he said.

“He’s England’s most dominant player and because of his performances he is one the players will respect.”

Pietersen has been an adventurous batsman for England and Gooch expects that to continue.

“He’s the logical choice and he’s an exciting choice as well,” said Gooch.

“It’s a bigger job than just captaining the England cricket team. Effectively you are leading English cricket and the English game.

“Hopefully the responsibility will dawn on Kevin and his performances will improve as well. They’ve been pretty good so far and if they improve that should be good for England.

Gooch stressed: “His number one job with England is not the captaincy, it’s scoring runs for the team.”

Former England coach David Lloyd is also excited by the prospect of a Pietersen captaincy.

He believes it marks a significant sea change for the national side.

“It’s a very brave selection. In the past they have gone for tried-and-tested citizens. Pietersen might just take us somewhere we’ve never been before,” he said.

“Let’s see where it’s going to take us – it’ll be a good ride.

“He’s a strutting character with a real ego and we don’t usually go for that sort.”

England teammate Andrew Strauss asserted the importance of Pietersen doing the job his own way.

“Kevin hasn’t got a huge amount of captaincy experience, but he’s up front and can lead by example,” he said.

“It is important he goes his own way rather than trying to copy Vaughany.”